The Senate Public Services Committee has asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to prepare a study on the possible effects of PLDT's acquisition of Digitel on the local Telecommunications Market, and to submit it to the Committee in the next two weeks.

The NTC, which is the country's Telecoms regulator, is in the best position to assess the impact of this transaction on consumers and the public in general. While, a change of ownership of corporations is usually ordinary business, this is not the case here as Telecommunications is imbued with public interest, and we must ensure that public interest is upheld in this transaction.

Additional consideration must be given to the fact that if the acquisition pushes through, PLDT will undoubtedly be owning a great chunk of the Mobile Phone industry, being the owner of Piltel, Smart, Cure, and eventually Digitel.

The committee is now conducting Technical Working Group meetings on the reorganization of the NTC to give the agency broader powers in overseeing the Telecoms Industry. There are already proposals to empower the NTC to monitor pricing and competition, and another proposal to consider is to give NTC the mandate to oversee the acquisition of Telecom companies by other Telecom companies.